Council’s stalling of new energy label flies in face of Paris climate deal

From 10 October 2016 (we’re migrating the best of our blog from coolproducts.eu)

Council of the EU attempts to delay the introduction of new energy efficiency labels contradict its environmental commitments under last year’s Paris climate agreement and will stop households saving money on their energy bills, said the Coolproducts campaign ahead of the latest round of talks on the proposal tomorrow (Tuesday, 11 October 2016).

Stephane Arditi, Coolproducts campaign coordinator said: “The Council has a fantastic opportunity to turn words into action with the first EU energy regulation after ratifying the Paris climate agreement. Instead it seems hell bent on hampering European citizens’ efforts to buy energy efficient appliances by delaying this reform of misleading and confusing labels.”

Current proposals by the European Council Presidency would see the present, confusing variation of energy labelling scales remain until 2025 at the earliest — some being A to G with others being A+++ to D. On top of this, labels for white goods such as washing machines, which deceive citizens into believing an ‘A+’ product is environmentally friendly when for some appliances it is the least energy efficient option on the market, would remain until 2020 or 2021.

Notes to Editors

The trilogue talks between the Council of the EU, European Parliament and European Commission experts to discuss when revised energy labels will be introduced are due to take place on Tuesday 11 October.

The European Parliament originally recommended that the most obsolete energy labels for products such as washing machines be replaced within two years, within five years for less urgent labels and for energy labels on heaters be considered for revision within six years.

The last position of the Council however suggests replacing the most obsolete energy labels within four years, within nine years for less urgent labels and within 14 years or more for heaters.

The upcoming trilogue talks are the last talks scheduled, although another round of discussions may be held if negotiations are not concluded.

The Coolproducts campaign is a coalition of European NGOs working to ensure that energy efficiency labelling and legislation encouraging the environmentally friendly design of new products truly work for European citizens and governments.